Poetry can enhance all content areas. This article shares highlights from the 2014 CLA Master Class focused on using poetry in math, science, social studies, the arts, and physical education/movement. Presenters and participants read poems, asked questions, and engaged in lively discussions about using poetry to enhance all content areas. Chair…

In a rapidly changing world, students' success depends upon the schools' capacity to deal with their specific instructional needs. Thus, effective teaching plays the role of a unique protective factor that may reduce and even close the achievement gap. Two broad questions structure this study: What is the research contribution to teacher quality…

Postgraduate study provides teachers with opportunities to become critical consumers of research as well as generators of their own knowledge, enabling them to fulfil the mandate of teaching being a research informed and evidenced based profession (Robinson, 2003). This article pays attention to 18 practicing teachers' reasons for undertaking a…

Writing intensive courses provide a means of addressing declining student writing proficiency. Programmatic learning goals accomplished through a writing-intensive course can be used to develop students' writing skills. For business communication faculty members to maximize the value of their courses to business programs, they should demonstrate…

The author draws on his extensive experience helping lead Congress's education efforts and later a highly respected education research concern to propose a new approach to federal education policy that expands and transforms the federal role. This new approach would significantly expand federal aid to schools that is not restricted to particular…

How does one evaluate one's own online teaching? Do novice online instructors depend on end-of-semester course evaluations or a Quality Matters rubric? Perhaps their professional development is driven by a personal belief that seeking multiple perspectives from different lenses is core to reflective practice. This work explores one way to…

Data suggest that teachers lack confidence in teaching English language learners (ELLs). Teachers' perceived shortcomings have been identified but little is known about why these perceptions exist or how they might be associated with broader measures of efficacy. We surveyed 578 Californian teachers of ELLs to explore the relations among teachers'…

This column explains three ways that teachers can improve reading test performance. Basically, the idea is that instead of teaching students to respond to particular question types as is typical of test preparation despite the ineffectiveness of this practice, it is better to teach students to read the test passages more effectively. Three…

Pressure to increase the throughput of university students in ethical ways has been a catalyst for innovations to improve learning and student success. Student dropout occurs mostly in the first year of study and poor performance is a major contributor to dropout even if the underlying reason for the poor performance is not academic…

Choropleth maps combined with diagram maps are frequently used in geography. For this reason, based on the maps developed by students, the study aims at the following: identifying and analyzing the errors made by the students; establishing and analyzing the competence level of the students; identifying the causes that led to these errors; and…

Effective approaches to the problems of struggling neighborhoods--from health to school success and poverty--require the focused use of integrated strategies. Consistent with this, community schools and many charter schools now function as hubs, helping to deliver a range of services beyond education in order to prepare their students to learn and…

In the fall of 2011, the Board of Regents released "The State and the System: NSHE Plan for Nevada's Colleges and Universities" (see ED525051). That plan, commonly referred to as the Board's "Strategic Directions," outlined specific goals for combining excellence and austerity to achieve student success. Since that time, the…

In this white paper, the author addresses the current issues faced by policy makers for improving the K-12 education system in the United States. Reliance had been on: (1) incentives; and (2) accountability standards. These two policy levers promised a quick, easily understood response for a relatively small investment. While the logic of these…

"Improving School Board Effectiveness" offers a clarifying and essential look at the evolving role of school boards and how they contribute to efforts to improve student learning. It examines how board members can establish effective district priorities, and it explores those board policies and actions that result in shared, districtwide…

The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of a joint attention intervention program on improving joint attention and communication skills in children with autism disorder. Participants were ten children between the ages of five and seven who attended a school for children with developmental disabilities (Tarbya Fekrya ). A pre-post…